TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why donors give
We all know that giving to others feels good.
And research agrees.
For example, in 2008, Michael Norton, assistant professor of business administration in the marketing unit at the Harvard Business School (HBS), conducted a series of studies with his colleagues Elizabeth Dunn and Lara Aknin at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Together they showed that people are happier when they spend money on others versus on themselves.
Giving creates connection, evokes gratitude, and even promotes good health.
Stephen Post, a professor of preventive medicine at Stony Brook University, reports that giving to others has been shown to increase health benefits in people with chronic illness, including HIV and multiple sclerosis.
However, just because we know something, it doesn’t mean we always remember it. Most of us could benefit from occasional reminders!
We searched the depths of the web to find the most inspiring giving quotes to rally your nonprofit community and help your supporters connect to those fuzzy giving feels.
60 inspiring giving quotes to re-energize your nonprofit community
1. "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
― Winston Churchill
2. "If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one."
― Mother Theresa
3. “As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher
4. “You often say; I would give, but only to the deserving, The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and nights is worthy of all else from you.
And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life-while you, who deem yourself a giver, is but a witness.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
5. “It's easier to take than to give. It's nobler to give than to take. The thrill of taking lasts a day. The thrill of giving lasts a lifetime.”
― Joan Marques
6. “Giving does not only preceed receiving; it is the reason for it. It is in giving that we receive.”
― Israelmore Ayivor
7. “When one gives, two get happy.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words
8.
9. "When you learn, teach. When you get, give."
― Maya Angelou
10. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
11. “If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.”
― Betty Reese
12. “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
― Buddha
13. “At the end it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished. It’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.”
― Denzel Washington
14. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
― Margaret Mead
15.
16. “Happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.”
― Ben Carson
17. “If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart.”
― Arab Proverb
18. “There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.”
― Khalil Gibran
19. “Everyone can experience the joy and blessing of generosity; because everyone has something to give.”
– Jan Grace
20. "You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you."
― John Bunyan
21. “No one is more cherished in this world than someone who lightens the burden of another.”
― Author Unknown
22.
23. “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”
― William James
24. “What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
― Albert Pike
25. “The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”
― Nelson Henderson
26. “Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.”
― Booker T. Washington
27. “The best things to do with the best things in life is to give them away.”
― Dorothy Day
28. “Giving is not an act of depletion, it’s an act of repletion.”
― Pete Kelly
29. “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
30.
31. “Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.”
― Minor Myers
32. “Giving is not just about making a donation. It is about making a difference.”
― Kathy Calvin
33. “Go out into the world and do good until there is too much good in the world.”
― Larry H. Miller
34. “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.”
― Chinese Proverb
35. “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
36. “I wondered why somebody didn’t do something. Then I realized, I am somebody. ”
― Unknown
37.
38. “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”
― Mother Teresa
39. “Find a need and fill it.”
― Ruth Stafford Peale
40. “He who wished to secure the good of others, has already secured his own.”
― Confucius
41. “Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.”
― Moliere
42. “The work of volunteers impacts all our lives, even if we are not aware of it.”
― Anthony Worrall-Thompson
43. “Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.”
― Plato
44. “The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
― Mitch Albom
45. "As one person I cannot change the world, but I can change the world of one person."
― Paul Shane Spear
46. “I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.”
― Maya Angelou
47.
48. “Lift up your eyes and see the good in the world, for we are people with an amazing capacity to do great good. And if only the minority choose to exercise this capacity to the smallest degree, oh how wondrous and sweet the deeds performed at but a few hands!”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
49. “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”
― John Wesley
50. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that.”
― Martin Luther King
51. “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”
― Edward Everett Hale
52. “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.”
― John Holmes
53. “Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters. Make a difference for another today.”
― Amy Leigh Mercree
54.
55. “Non nobis solum nati sumus.
(Not for ourselves alone are we born.)”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero
56. “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
― President Barack Obama
57. "Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."
― Desmond Tutu
58. “A fight is going on inside me,” said an old man to his son. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The same fight is going on inside you.”
The son thought about it for a minute and then asked, “Which wolf will win?”
The old man replied simply, “The one you feed.”
— Wendy Mass, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
59. “Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.”
— Barbara De Angelis
60.
Make it easy to turn inspiration into action
Words are powerful; they can inspire and move. They can evoke emotion and invite action.
We hope you loved these quotes on giving as much as we did!
Use these giving quotes on social media and in your nonprofit newsletters to galvanize and motivate your nonprofit community, from donors to volunteers.
If you’re looking for a way to direct the newly found momentum, check out GiveForms online fundraising solution.
When you use GiveForms, you gain access to a ton of nonprofit-specific benefits:
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